News

News

The Rippon family has an enduring connection with New Zealand art, and is delighted to provide a contemporary art space for the local community. Curator Robyn Bardas MFA brings a fresh eye and contemporary edge to this exhibition.

From 1st June until 28th July, The Rippon Hall is excited to bring you ‘Dealing With It,’ a debut exhibition from Ruby Urquhart which paradoxically explores the absence of creativity.

Ruby Urquhart grew up in Wanaka and is now a Wellington-based artist. While studying at the Learning Connexion in 2012 and 2013, she established herself as a portraitist and has since branched out into sculpture, particularly in the movie industry. In her future work, she hopes to focus on painting as a way of exploring drag identifies and gender concepts.

Like many artists before her, Ruby’s creative work has suffered as a result of her mental health. Less of an artistic style and more of a coping mechanism, these works are a defense against the idea that if you don’t do something, you’ll lose yourself.

Rather than avoiding the world and spending hours questioning her self-worth, the works were a way of avoiding the world that is constructive instead of damaging. A record of a slow and methodical healing process. Through both the process of their creation and the context in which they were created, these meditative and repetitive drawings are tangible representations of the experience of time spent dealing with it.

Although the works are born out of challenging periods, as part of her healing process rather than a typical artistic practice, they have grown into something that gives an architectural impression of structure and stability.

Don’t miss this fascinating exhibition running 1st June – 28th July; 11 am – 5 pm daily at The Rippon Hall and be sure to join us for Ruby’s opening night at 5pm on the 1st June.

We are thrilled to welcome much loved kiwi troubadour Monty Bevins as he hits the road this May and June to celebrate the release of his new single Lovers Again. He’ll be playing The Rippon Hall on Tuesday, 29th May joined by Eccentric-folk musician Fraser Ross.

Known as a touching, spirited performer, whose soul-folk songs ask the big questions while telling the small stories, Bevins has built a loyal following throughout his homeland. With a warm rich voice and articulate guitar grooves, he digs out and distills themes of tenderness, personal revolution and adventure.

The Rippon Hall is thrilled to be one of the stops along this New Zealand tour featuring the creativity of pianist and composer Jonathan Crayford at the keys of an historic Steinway D Grand Piano. A musical experience normally reserved for audiences in large international cities.

Jonathan Crayford is an award-winning pianist, multi-instrumentalist and critically-acclaimed composer from New Zealand who began playing music at the age of 3. His work encompasses a wide variety of musical genres. As a musician in New York he has worked with Kurt Rosenwinkel, David Binney, Mambo Macoco, Groove Collective and in Europe with David Murray, Tony Allen, Questlove, Macy Gray, Bobby Carcasses (Cuba) and many others internationally. As a film composer he has scored numerous feature films, winning industry awards. His latest trio of albums gained critical acclaim with East West Moon receiving the 2017 Tui Award for Best Jazz album and its predecessor Dark Light called ‘a masterpiece’ by Radio NZ’s Simon Sweetman.

Known as a prolific and highly original compositional talent, Jonathan is responsible for many film soundtracks, albums, and bands. His work today spans many different genres and disciplines, in many different parts of the world, including Australasia, Europe, Brazil, Spain, America (particularly New York) and Cuba. Most recently he has been living in Paris and Spain, writing a film/opera and recording two albums of solo piano music in Spain and a trio album in New York. Now he has a new project – to tour New Zealand with a Steinway D Concert Grand Piano.

“There is a huge difference between a full-sized, concert grand in good condition and every other piano,” he explains. “The big ones make a huge sound and the balance of low frequency to high frequency is glorious, the tone, divine. When a pianist performs on an instrument that can deliver such a sound – the instrument inspires greatness, and in turn, the audience feel it.”

The piano is a 1955 full sized Steinway concert grand, signed by several concert pianists throughout its lifetime, including Lily Kraus, “a Hungarian specialist in Beethoven and Mozart who had endured a concentration camp and became a refugee before touring the world in the ‘30s and ‘40s. I believe she was quite a presence in NZ then, a lot of people remember her.”

“It will be a great pleasure for me to be able to perform on such a brilliant instrument to people all over New Zealand,” agrees Crayford. “We also have a wide range of venue type: A cement silo, a wine cave, a concert hall and various other types of spaces.”

“I’m going to play everything that’s been in my mind for the last 2 years since I came back to New Zealand to live close to my daughter and grand-daughter. I’ve studied a lot of music in this time and absorbed the sounds from trips to far-away places. When I sit down to play it will be to journey through all that I have seen and heard. In real terms – for the listener, apart from the emotional and spiritual content which can only reveal itself at the time, this means some Ravel, Bach, Ligeti, Monk, Ellington, Mingus, Mompou, Mario Bauza, Claire Fischer, Peter Gabriel, Lorca, and particularly anything that might come to mind at the time.”

Born in London to a Yorkshire mother and a Nigerian father, Paul Ubana Jones was playing guitar by the age of 11. This was the beginning of a three-decade career that would see him crossing continents and recording eight albums.

After graduating from music college, where he studied guitar, cello and composition, Paul began to forge his own contemporary style, influenced by blues, rock, folk and jazz, which he has developed over the years.

In the late eighties, Paul moved to New Zealand, where he still lives. He continues to perform regularly in New Zealand, Australia, and internationally. Over the years, Paul has shared the stage with various artists, including Taj Mahal, Keb Mo, Norah Jones, Bob Dylan, Tuck and Patti, Crowded House and many others.

His festival appearances include Dublin Blues Festival, Byron Bay Blues Festival, Vancouver Island Folk Festival, Blues at Bridgetown, and several Rippon Festivals. We are thrilled to welcome Paul back to Rippon. Described as one man with one guitar sounding like a whole band, Paul Ubana Jones is one of the country’s most soulful hidden treasures. With a voice that is as husky as it is evocative, with intoxicating rhythms leaving nobody untouched Paul is not one to miss.

Learn the magical art of sourdough bread making with cookbook author and food educator, Nicola Galloway. We are thrilled to a be one of the stops on Nicola’s South Island Tour next month, hosting one of her sought-after workshops on Saturday, 18th November.

Using three simple ingredients – flour, water and salt – combined with basic technique and timing, the most flavoursome and nutritious bread can be created in your own kitchen. For many years Nicola has been preparing sourdough bread for her family and she has specifically designed her recipes to fit around a modern lifestyle. This traditional technique of bread making slowly ferments the flours and grains to improve their flavour, while also enhancing starch and gluten digestibility and nutrient availability.

In this demonstration-style workshop you will learn:

How to prepare and maintain a healthy sourdough starter – this is key to baking great bread

The Rippon family has an enduring connection with New Zealand art, and is delighted to provide a contemporary art space for the local community. Curator Robyn Bardas MFA brings a fresh eye and contemporary edge to this exhibition.

From 6th October until 12 December, 2017, The Rippon Hall is excited to bring you ‘Ninety’ from Wanaka local Victoria Stevens. The exhibition is a selection from Victoria’s Master of Fine Arts installation of ninety individual textiles representing each year her mother lived without her mother.

The works are predominantly hand stitched, and refer to domestic traditions and rituals which women bring to the human experience. On first viewing the works manifest as a family album; literally as an interpretation of all things pleasant, as in warmth and closeness to others, but closer inspection reveals a sadness, a story of loss along with a deeply unsettling sense of foreboding.

WINTER POP-UP RESTAURANT RETURNS TO RIPPON

Snow is in the forecast for this coming week, the town is beginning to fill up with shredders and, to coin a now all-too familiar phrase, winter is coming.

With the change of season now very much on the mind, we are very excited to announce that Rippon is once again teaming up with Chef Sam Metcalfe for a 5-week opening of The Chef’s Table this winter. “Sam cooked up a storm last winter at The Chef’s Table and we are thrilled to have him back again this year.” says Rippon’s Events Manager Yohann Bourdin. “We had a wonderful mix of après-skiers, families, locals and winter visitors alike, many of whom returned time and again, and the word seemed to spread like wildfire. With such a positive reception from the community, it took very little to convince us all that we should reopen for the coming season”

Other than the finer points of the menu, very little has changed from last year. The roaring fire, the very local drinks list, the communal tables and the sharing plates will be very much in evidence along with live music every Sunday afternoon from 4pm. Remaining too will be the chef’s table itself in the Rippon Hall kitchen, seating up to 10 people where you can watch Sam and his team working their magic. “One of the great things about cooking for The Chef’s Table,” says Sam, “was knowing so many of the people enjoying their evenings with us. Wanaka may be growing but The Chef’s Table reinforced what a great and close-knit community we still have here. To be cooking for so many friends and acquaintances added a very informal and special element to the pop-up. The openness of the terrace for après-ski and having the chef’s table itself in the kitchen really added to the enjoyment and allowed far greater interaction with the guests.”

The Chef’s Table opens at The Rippon Hall on Friday June 16th (perfectly timed, Yohann points out, for Cardrona’s opening day) for 5 weeks with the final night of opening Sunday July 23rd . Open 6 days (closed Mondays) from 4pm for après-ski drinks and dinner. Bookings are strongly recommended to avoid disappointment. Larger lunches available where possible with prior bookings. For all enquiries and reservations, please email pop-up@rippon.co.nz or call 021 152 9707.

The Chef’s Table

The Chef’s Table at the Rippon Hall opens Sunday 10th July and will open every evening from 4pm (3pm on Sunday) for evening dining and Apres-Ski drinks.

What to expect

Enjoy a relaxed atmosphere, a roaring open fire and a daily changing menu, cooked with locally sourced ingredients. Children’s menu available. Rippon wines by the glass and bottle and beers from Wanaka breweries Sidewinder and Beerworks.